The Women's March On Washington Is Bringing Back The ERA

You may have thought that the battle for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) died in 1982...

(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

You may have thought that the battle for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) died in 1982, but don’t tell that to the Women’s March on Washington. Despite some early disorganization, the group set to protest the inauguration of Donald Trump has come together to reveal a “Guiding Vision and Definition of Principles,” that provides a progressive policy platform. And oh yeah, they want to bring back the ERA.

In addition to the failed amendment, as Slate reports, the platform speaks to a number of pressing issues and takes an extraordinarily liberal stance on all of them:

The platform supports increased accountability for perpetrators of police brutality and racial profiling, demanding the demilitarization of American law enforcement and an end to mass incarceration. It calls for comprehensive antidiscrimination protections, health care, and gender-affirming identity documents for LGBTQ people. It calls unions “critical to a healthy and thriving economy” and aligns the march with movements for the rights of sex workers, farmworkers, and domestic workers.

March leaders have gone further than supporting access to safe, legal abortion and reproductive health care to demand the right to abortion for women of all incomes. (Even many supposedly “pro-choice” politicians have squeaked away from advocating an end to the ban on public funding for abortions, so this is commendable.) As for immigration, “we reject mass deportation, family detention, violations of due process and violence against queer and trans migrants,” the statement reads. “We recognize that the call to action to love our neighbor is not limited to the United States, because there is a global migration crisis. We believe migration is a human right and that no human being is illegal.”

For those on the left that found Hillary too conservative for their liking, the focus — and popularity — on such a progressive organization feels like a welcome change.
The Women’s March on Washington Has Released an Unapologetically Progressive Platform [Slate]


headshotKathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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